I apologize as this isn’t a jewelry related question. Do any of you
wonderful people know of a source for raw (unlacquered) switch plates
for etching? Rio only has the 1-switch and rocker plates. I’ve
ordered from Volcano Arts who are wonderful but a little pricy for
resale purposes. I’m especially looking for the 2-switch, 4-switch
and the elusive 3-switch. Thanks in advance for any help.

I used to make enameled switch plates, and would cut my own out of
copper. Rarely did I use the regular rectangle shape, but would cut
them in ovals, or circles, or freeform.

To assure that I got all the holes in the correct places I made
templates from a regular commercial switch plates, and carefully
scribed onto the copper, the openings to be sawed, or in the case of
the screw holes, to be drilled. It was labor intensive, but I was
able to get the shapes that I wanted, and was able to make plates
with any number of openings.

I sell copper switch cover blanks up to a triple size for enameling.
They are not made by American Metalcraft, the source of copper covers
for most distributors. I will be selling these at the Enamelist
Society Conference in August and I plan to take orders at that time.
There is no catalogue, only a price list. E-mail me off line for the
price list. My covers are specially formed to be user-friendly for
enameling. The covers are rectangular with rounded corners. You can
see the covers at

In my group of crafters- there is an enameler/copper artist who does
something similar to what you describe- Her answer to searching for
materials was to contact a local gutter and flashing company.

They sell sheet copper, by the foot, in various gauges. She took in
a sample of a “blank” and they pressed out a variety of sizes and
did it fairly expediently and it was cost effective for her. Side
benefit was she now has a custom-order market with this company as
another revenue outlet through her partnership- she even provided (at
cost) covers for the Gutter company office and gets referrals.

I hope it helps- sometimes other industries can “cross-over” to our
applications, and it can be more cost effective and build a good
relationship that may become potentials!

Oh my, thanks to all of you that replied with suggestions! At some
point I might cut my own as I could do so much more with them that
way. I was asked to make some up for a local show. By using the
standard plates buyers won’t have to do any changes to their switches
to make them fit. I’m treating the show as a trial to see if they
sell.